My thumb is raw and my wrist is sore...an awesome evening on the river. In under three hours, we caught and released 17 bass, the majority being spots in the 3lb range. We fished two cove mouths along a 100yd stretch of the south bank, just downstream from Gunstocker where the power lines cross the river. Over the last week, someone had put out several brushpiles of fresh-cut cedar and each one quickly became the home of a fat female. After catching five good ones off the brushpiles, the flat behind us exploded in a feeding frenzy that was similar to those in the fall. I'm assuming they were attacking sunfish because we saw no visible baitfish on the surface or on the graph, plus the depth was only 4 feet. All bass were caught on either a 1/4oz Booyah spinnerbait in white/chartreuse or a Lucky Craft LVR in green w/black back in 3-4 feet of water with a temp of 58.
Hiwassee/Bass/3-11
- Thread starter jason
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rsimms
Well-known member
Oooh! Sounds fun... sorry to hear about the raw thmb and sore wrist however. emoLaugh
polo-dog
Well-known member
Wow, that sounds great. Was there any flow? If you fished after 5 pm did you notice an upswing in the activity at 5pm as that's when the water was starting to flow through Chick dam.
polo-dog
Well-known member
That is interesting, if you look at the Chick/TVA flow at those times, the flow started very slowly at 5pm-69cfs, was 17,000+ at 6pm, and 40,000+after that, in other words, the frenzie did correlate with the flow very well. I think that 69cfs is negligible.
rsimms
Well-known member
While flow is important, it is negligible effect that far up Hiwassee. Even if it did effect, there would be a large timelag up Hiwasee. In other words, I personally would put much more emphasis on the "time of day" for the feeding frenzy than I would generators.
ranman
Well-known member
I must dissagree Rsimms,flow on the Hiwassee is everything.I have seen that river shut off like a light switch with current not flowing and likewise when the current starts.It doesn't even take much current to get them started up there,just enough to notice a leaf moving on the surface is enough to get them going.
rsimms
Well-known member
I would bow to your expertise emoWorthy ... I'll be the first to admit I am no expert on Hiwassee, nor on bass.
ranman
Well-known member
Please don't,Jason is the Hiwassee master and he doesn't even live close to it!
I'm 15 min. away and get skunked all the time! but I do know I do even worse when there is no current.
I'm 15 min. away and get skunked all the time! but I do know I do even worse when there is no current.
rsimms
Well-known member
Question... does current turn on and off based primarily on generation through Chickamauga Dam, or Watts Bar... or upriver from Apalachia Powerhouse?
I spoke with a fellow fisherman at church today who spends a lot of time on the Hiwassee and fished it twice last week. On the flats at Agency Creek and Powell Slough, he experienced the same frenzy at approximately the same time. His theory was similar to mine; the spots are ganging up on sunfish that are hanging at the channel edge of the flat. He was originally throwing a white crank but had to switch to one with a green hue to get bit. The fact that the spots are feeding on bluegill would explain why most of them were quality bass. As far as current goes, I'm not sure if it was a factor or not, although most people who fish the Hiwassee will head down to the Tennessee if there is no current.
Ranman, I'm am in no was an expert at the Hiwassee. However, my father-in-law and I spent a great deal of time last year locating the migratory "highways" of the Hiwassee bass. Once you've found their travel paths, all you have to do is find cover along the way that correlates with the pattern for that particular season. To be honest, prior to logging on to this board last year, we just simply beat the bank and hoped for a good bite.
Ranman, I'm am in no was an expert at the Hiwassee. However, my father-in-law and I spent a great deal of time last year locating the migratory "highways" of the Hiwassee bass. Once you've found their travel paths, all you have to do is find cover along the way that correlates with the pattern for that particular season. To be honest, prior to logging on to this board last year, we just simply beat the bank and hoped for a good bite.
ranman
Well-known member
I believe the best bite comes from water being "pulled" from the chick.There are certain spots around the island that will change directions depending on where water is being released from I.E. chick or watts bar.I don't think water coming from reliance has a lot to do with the bite,it's really to far away to affect the current very much from say Charleston down to the TN. river.
